This is a "theme" deck, and the theme is New Orleans
Voodoo. The deck consists of 79 cards: 22 majors, a
"wild" card and 56 Minors. The trumps are called
"Roads," the 40 pips are called "Spirits,"
and the 16 court cards are called "Temples." The four
suits are are based on what the author calls the "four
nations." Per the author, these "nations" are
different types of Voodoo traditions and they roughly correspond
to the four elements. The four nations are:

Petro - a form of worship common in Haiti - Fire

Congo nation - Water

Rada - claims origin from the rites performed by the
Dahomey of Africa - Air

Santeria - a sister religion to Voodoo - Earth

Although Santeria is an entirely different religion, this
disparity is explained away by saying that it would be
disrespectful not to include the names and some information on
the orishas or spirits of Santeria. How thoughtful. The Major
Arcana have all been renamed. They are:

0 The World Egg

VIII (or XI) Possession

XVI Deluge

I Dr. John

IX Couche

XVII Z'Etoile

II Marie Laveau

X The Market

XVIII Magick Mirror

III Ayizana

XI (or VIII) Secret Societies

XIX Gros Bon Ange

IV Loco

XII Zombies

XX Ancestors

V Master of the Head

XIII Les Morts

XXI Carnival

VI Marassa

XIV Ti Bon Ange

Wild Card/Les Barons

VII Dance

Courur Le Mardi Gras

The court cards are also different:

Houngan (Drum) - King

Mambo (Serpent) - Queen

La Place (Crossroads and Machete) - Prince

Hounsis (Calabash) - Princess

The Ace through ten of each suit have scenes and a symbol for
the suit in the upper left border.

Glassman's art style is unique. Her figures are willowy in
body and feature triangular faces with prominent cheekbones and
deep set eyes, which range from single line slits to feathery
boas. The colors used are intense and appear to be from
paintings. The images are powerful and rather haunting. I like
Glassman's style, but I doubt that it will appeal to everyone.

The book that accompanies this deck gets off to a bad start
with the following opening sentence: "The procession of
images which is the Tarot wound through Europe under the
stewardship of the Gypsies, who carried with them the arcane
knowledge of the great mystery schools of the Egyptians."
Somehow, I make it past this point without throwing the book into
the fireplace, but this initiated a nagging doubt about the
veracity of anything else I read in this book. That said, the
book provides some background information on Voodoo as practiced
in New Orleans. The author is careful to note that this book
provides "one" understanding of Voodoo, vice
"the" understanding. This deck incorporates the
Qabalistic Tree of Life into its structure and a chapter is
devoted to "Voodoo and the Western Mystery Tradition."
It provides some brief background information on the Tree of Life
and the Golden Dawn. I found them two strange bedfellows, but I
leave the reader to come to his or her own conclusions. A chapter
describing each card follows. A black and white picture of the
card is provided along with some background information on the
loa, saint, person or scene depicted. A sentence for
contemplation and a short paragraph with the divinatory
interpretation are also provided. I do not know enough about
Voodoo to comment on his assignments, but the author sometimes
finds himself apologizing , and telling us that he has to
emphasize certain characteristics of the loa and minimize others
in order to make them fit.

I could recommend this deck for those interested in Voodoo,
but I am not comfortable with the veracity of the information
provided in this book. The artist has written a book of her own
for the deck, but has not yet found a publisher. I think her book
may provide a better picture of the religion and the deck. This
deck takes a lot of liberties with the tarot in an effort to make
Voodoo fit. While the box trumpets "...strong parallels
between the Waite and Thoth Tarots, the Kabbalistic Tree of Life
and the Voodoo tradition as it is practiced in New Orleans,"
I do not share this viewpoint. I do not think one can take their
knowledge of the Golden Dawn based decks and apply it to this
deck out of the box, despite the author's claims to the contrary.
I would recommend this deck primarily for collectors. There are
better sources for information on both Voodoo and Tarot.